Month: October 2010

Bill is meeting the girl of his dreams. Trotsky is reliving his death. Mark is in a Philadelphia. Dawn is trying to learn a new language. Monkeys are trying to write "Hamlet."

With all this randomness, is there a common theme? At the Hanks High School auditorium this weekend, the commonality was displayed at during the school's production of "All in the Timing."

In "Sure Thing," Bill, played by Rene Carbajal, is a man who meets a woman at a café. He tries to ask her out but fails so his personality changes repeatedly with the sound of a bell. Carbajal was a joy to watch with his multiple changes in personalities. He focused while changing his character frequently,which made him memorable and amusing. In the second performance of "Sure Thing," Carbajal was just as witty as in the first show. He changed his character to keep the audience interested.

Betty, played by Allisa Johnson in show A and Laura Saucedo in show B, is the woman who Bill meets at the café. Johnson had great energy, which was encouraged by Carbajal. Her reactions to her partner's changes were exact and gave the audience something to laugh at. Saucedo lacked some energy in the beginning of her performance, but quickly fed off of the audience's laughter and picked up the pace.

When you're in "Philadelphia" everything is backwards. Today, Mark, played by Jorge Loweree in show A, is in Philadelphia. Loweree was obviously having fun on stage by making everyone laugh. There were moments when it was hard to understand Loweree, but he made up for it with his great energy. Al, played by Alex Menchaca in show A, is Mark's friend, who is in Los Angeles. Menchaca had great stage presence and quickly commanded the scene.

When three monkeys attempt to write "Hamlet" all they can come up with are "Words, Words, Words." One of the chimps, named Milton and played by Matthew Dominguez in show A, starts off as the only one who comes up with actual sentences. Dominguez became a monkey on stage by actually jumping around. Swift, played by Mario Saavedra in show A, was the one with the big ideas. Saavedra was the loudest of any of these actors and it served him well. He distinguished himself by making bold choices and having great energy throughout the show. Kafka, played by Kyle Kehrwald in show B, is the only girl of the group, and she isn't exactly the smart one. Kehrwald was very amusing with her wide variety of facial expressions and witty mannerisms. She quickly grabbed the attention of the audience.

Will the language of Unamunda, the "Universal Language," unite Dawn and Don? Dawn, played by Jasmine Witlach, stutters and wants to learn the language of Unamunda. Witlach gave her character life. You believed everything that came out of her mouth. Don, played by Francisco Cabral, is the teacher of Unamunda. Cabral was amazing; he gave so much commitment to his character by being able to learn all the gibberish he spoke. The way he spoke this gibberish made it sound as if he was speaking an actual language.

"Variations of the Death of Leon Trotsky" was very funny and gave insight on how a man would react to his own death. Trotsky, played by Anthony Escajeda, has been smashed in the head with a mountain climber's ax. Escajeda had many great moments and gave the most interesting choices for the audience to enjoy. Ramon, played by Armando Acosta, is the one who assassinated Leon Trotsky. Acosta was the clown of the night by making the audience laugh with his humorous Mexican accent.

Timing is everything in this show, and the Hanks High Knights definitely pulled off this very funny show.

Abraham Quezada is a student at Socorro High School.

The El Paso Cappies are high school drama enthusiasts who review high school plays.

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The El Paso Cappies Blog is here to provide information about high school theater in El Paso. We will be providing reviews of shows past and previews of shows to come. Most of our content will be student generated.